STANDARDLife is offloading its healthcare arm in a £138million cash deal.

Asubsidiary of South African corporate Discovery Holdings is taking over Standard Life Healthcare, with the transaction expected to be completed by July 31.

As part of the deal, 562 employees will transfer over.

David Nish, Standard Life chief executive, said: "Standard Life Healthcare is a leading and successful business in the UK market, but in the context of sharpening our strategic focus on the long-term savings and investments market, we concluded it is not core."